Friday, October 22
On the fast train to Paris and catching up with my blog…
First of all it’s damn lucky there was a train. We planned to leave from Villefranche and go back to Paris right after work on Friday. Juliana had a later train and I was going to change my ticket to match her time. Turned out my train was the only one running that day. With the strike you have to check day by day to see what train is running. What a pain in the ass this strike is going to be. So far I hear a lot about it on the news but have not seen anything from where I was. I only feel it in how we plan our travels. Supposedly international flights are not affected so I will keep my fingers crossed. It was funny when I heard on the news yesterday that they are telling airlines flying into france to come in with enough fuel to fly out! Since the strikers are setting up blockades at the oil refineries it is starting to cause a fuel shortage in the country. As of Friday about 30% of gas stations are out of fuel and there are lines at the ones that are open.
By chance I called my mom earlier in the week and she was so relieved to hear from me she started crying, I felt so bad! Apparently she hears about the strike on TV and saw some violence break out in some demonstrations and was worried about me. She was thinking there was violence everywhere. It’s typical that the news would depict the worse. We talk about it quite a bit at lunch with our local colleagues so it’s interesting. I see it on BBC but they report it on an international level. It’s interesting to get perspective from the locals. The plant mgr Christian said that in the US the union would try to negotiate first and then go on strike if there can’t be agreement. In France the unions go on strike first and then negotiate. They do this to show their power and leverage. Now they’ve incited the young population, the students, into it. These kids are the ones that get rowdy and get in trouble with the police. I wonder if they are just getting into the action or if they truly believe in what the strike is all about. Come on, they should be glad that the retirement age is only going from 60 to 62. Just look at their neighbors, Germany is 65 and England is going to be 66. But France has long ago gained the reputation of going on strike at a drop of the hat. They do not like change and do not like it that their president (Sarkozy) is trying to put in reforms in order to save the economy. Did they expect to continue to live the good life forever when the rest of the world have issues? The government is declaring some of the blockades unconstitutional and stepping in to break up the human blockades on some of the oil refineries. It would be interesting to check out these demonstrations but I promised Gary and my mom that I would not go near them. I guess that would be asking for trouble. I’m just pissed that it might stop me from checking out some of the sights in Paris this weekend. School holidays start next week so supposedly the strikes are easing up because no one will be around. I guess the unions are taking a vacation from the strike, how stupid is that!
I so regret not having more time to enjoy Beaujolais country, it’s so pretty here. When Gary & I were in Amsterdam we went to the van gogh museum. I loved it and learned a lot about the artist. Towards the end of his life van gogh went down to the French countryside to get away from the hectic Paris city scene. During that time he did a lot of paintings to depict the surroundings he loved so much. Anyway, Villefranche reminded me of this. Rolling mountains and vineyards in the distance, big open fields of wheat or corn, stone farm houses scatter around the fields. Thick blankets of fog rolling into the valley in the early morning hours, crisp clean air. I wish I had more time to take pictures. Fall is just beginning and the leaves are starting to change color. I meant to walk to the river to take pictures before I leave but this week was so busy that we were leaving the office between 8-9pm and then back to the hotel at 10pm, after dinner. The ladies at the office were so sweet about wanting me to come back down next week. Valerie the receptionist says to send here an email and she will show me around “Beaujolais” country. They are very patient with my broken French and try to teach me. I don’t expect that in Paris. Country people are much more relaxed and friendly in general I think.
My teammates on this assignments were fine, I think we got along well although all very different personalities. Norbert is a 50-ish scientist with doctorate and is the opposite of me so he drives me nuts sometimes. From the beginning I tried to establish a schedule for him along with expectations. He must think I was a slave driver but seems to take things in stride. He is a wine connoisseur so would proceed to tell you about every wine there is. I must admit I learned something from him and I did enjoy a glass of Beaujolais every night at dinner. Poor guy, I think he was traumatized by dinner at McDonalds last night. We worked late last night and did not leave the office until 9:30pm and only because I was getting hungry and cranky. Since we had more work to do that night I made the decision to stop at McDs for a quick bite instead of regular dinner in town. Well, throughout the meal he gave me an account of each of the 4 occasions when he had a burger and kept looking at his burger in disbelief and claims there is no taste to it! Too bad, I really did not have time or energy for a 2 hour meal. You really can’t rush a meal when you are in France, they won’t let you. That’s how I started having a glass of wine to sip and savor while waiting for your meal. It’s actually quite pleasant. Back home people would eat their meals in 10 minutes and would complain if the waitress is not fast enough. Or the waitress would rush you through so to increase the turnover. In France they will never give you the check until you ask for it. I really liked taking 2 hours to eat my meal. Wonder if I will go back to my old ways when I’m home.
I love the food here! I know I gained weight because my clothes are not fitting very well. OMG, I am so going on a diet when I get home, so depressing. But there is no way I am going to skip out on the great food and the fantastic French bread! It’s not like I am gorging on food but I am not active with walking or hiking like at home, and the food is free and good so ofcourse I am going to pick up that yummy looking tart! Will have to do some emergency shopping in Paris this weekend because I am popping out of my button down shirts which is all I have aside from the short sleeves. I can’t wear the short sleeve because the temps have dropped drastically from the first week. Yep, I packed very poorly this trip, will have to do better for Estonia. Anyway, back to my favorite topic, food. I have got to learn how to make some of these sauces, a far cry from the American gravy!. The cook for the employee café is so good. Since it’s a small team here and all are friendly to each other, I worked up the courage to ask the cook to give me some of his recipes – coq au vin, pork bouginon, creamy potatos, etc. Win-win since he was very proud of the fact that I asked for his recipes. He got my email address yesterday and promised to send me recipes. Since he did not speak any English the recipes will be in French! I would so rather hang out in the kitchen with him and learn to cook than do the work I was doing!
For the last week we will all be together in Paris. It’s been many years since I’ve been to Paris, can’t wait to walk around and soak in the atmosphere AND eat some great crepes! Juliana asked me the other day what crepes were, OMG! I told her she cannot leave france without eating a crepe from one of those streetcar vendor that makes it to order, with nutella and grand marnier!!
I’m skying gary everyday and that really helps. Fortunately with the time zone it works out well. I skype him when I get up and we talk for half an hour while I get ready for work and he is ready for bed. I am loving my ipad, best buy this year.
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